95 Jam tuus, O! certe est mihi formidabilis arcus, Nate dea, jaculis, nec minus igne, potens : Solus et in superis tu mihi summus eris. Nescio cur, miser est suaviter omnis amans 1 : Cuspis amaturos figat ut una duos. 100 5 Hæc ego e, mente olim læva, studioque supino, Nequitiæ posui vana tropæa meæ. Indocilisque ætas prava magistra fuit ; Præbuit, admissum dedocuitque jugum. Cincta rigent multo pectora nostra gelu ; Et Diomedeam vim timet ipsa Venus. 10 EPIGRAMMATUM LIBER. 5 I.-IN PRODITIONEM BOMBARDICAM. Ausus es infandum, perfide Fauxe, nefas, Et pensare mala cum pietate scelus? Sulphureo curru, flammivolisque rotis: d Deme meos tandem, verum nec deme, furores ; Nescio cur, miser est suaviter omnis amans. Unequal task ! a passion to resign e Hæc ego, &c. These lines are an epilogistic palinode to the last Elegy. The Socratic doctrines of the shady Academe soon broke the bonds of beauty : in other words, his return to the university. They were probably written when the Latin poems were prepared for the press in 1645.T. WARTON. II.-IN EANDEM. Quæ septemgemino, Bellua,a monte lates? Parce, precor, donis insidiosa tuis. Astra, nec inferni pulveris usus ope. Et quot habet brutos Roma profana deos : II.-IN EANDEM. Et sine quo superum non adeunda domus. Movit et horrificum cornua dena minax. Supplicium, spreta relligione, dabis : Non nisi per flammas triste patebit iter." Verbaque ponderibus vix caritura suis ! IV. IN EANDEM. Et Styge damnarat, Tænarioque sinu ; V.-IN INVENTOREM BOMBARDE. Qui tulit ætheream solis ab axe facem ; VI.-AD LEONORAM ROME CANENTEM b. Obtigit æthereis ales ab ordinibus. * Quæ septemgemino, Bellua, &c. The Pope, called, in the theological language of the times, " The Beast.". b Adriana of Mantua, for her beauty surnamed the Fair, and her dau Baroni, the lady whom Milton celebrates in these three Latin Epigrams, we their contemporaries the finest singers in the world. When Milton was at introduced to the concerts of Cardinal Barberini, where he heard Leono! mother play. It was the fashion for all the ingenious strangers, who vis leave some verses on Leonora.-T. WARTON. Aut Deus, aut vacui certe mens tertia cæli, Per tua secreto guttura serpit agens ; Sensim immortali assuescere posse sono. In te una loquitur, cætera mutus habet. 10 CREDULA quid liquidam Sirena, Neapoli, jactas, Claraque Parthenopes e fana Achelöiados ; Corpora Chalcidico sacra dedisse rogo ? Mutavit rauci murmura Pausilipi'. Atque homines cantu detinet atque deos. c Allera Torquatum cepit Leonora. This allusion to Tasso's Leonora, and the turn which it takes, are inimitably beautiful. - T. WARTON. For the story of Pentheus, a king of Thebes, see Euripides's “ Bacchæ," where he sees two suns, &c., v. 916. But Milton, in " torsisset lumina," alludes to the rage of Pentheus in Ovid, “Metam.” iii. 557 : Aspicit hunc oculis Pentheus, quos ira tremendos Fecerat.-T. WARTON, i Pausilipi. & This Epigram is in Milton's " Defensio " against Salmasius ; in the translation of which by Richard Washington, published in 1692, the Epigram is thus anglicised, p. 187:— Who taught Salmasius, that French chattering pye, Magister artis renter, et Jacobæi X-IN SALMASINI The starving rascal, flush'd with just a hundred Who threaten'd once to stink the pope to death.-T. WAR King Charles II., now in exile, and sheltered in Holland, gare Salma professor at Leyden, one hundred Jacobuses to write his defence, 1649 tha: Salmasius bad no reward for his book : he says, that in Leyden, that Morley, afterwards bishop, to the apologist, with his thanks, " but not with as John Milton the impudent lyer reported.”_" Athen. Oxon.” ii. 770, This Epidtam, as Mr. Warton observes, is an imitation of part of 1 Persius Satires.—TODD. I This is in the “ Defensio Secunda." It is introduced with the follo, Morus, the subject of the next Epigram, for having predicted the wonders Salmasius's new edition, or rather reply :-" Tu igitur, ut pisciculus ille ai curris balsnam Salmasi um.” Mr. Steevens observes, that this is an id Falstaff's-- “ Here do I walk before thee," &c., although reversed as to 1 T. WARTON. Mr. Warton observes, that Milton here sneers at a circumstance w | Salmasius was really of an ancient and noble family.--Todd. * " Cubito mungentium," a cant appellation among the Romans for T. WARTON. Christina, queen of Sweden, among other learned men who fed her var Salmasius to her court, where he wrote his “ Defensio.” She had pesterec letters seven pages long, and told him she would set out for Holland to feti When he arrived, he was often indisposed on account of the climate ; and on theso occasions, the queen would herself call on him in a locking the door of his apartment, used to light his fire, give him breakfast him some hours. This behaviour gave rise to scandalous stories, and our cı jealous. It is seemingly a slander, what was first thrown out in the “ Merci that Christina, when Salmasius had published his work, dismissed him wit) parasite and an advocate of tyranny: but the case was, to say nothing that both to be flattered and to tyrannise, Salmasius had now been long prepari Holland, to fulfil his engagements with the university of Leyden : she of rewards and appointments to remain in Sweden, and greatly regretted his on his death, very shortly afterwards, she wrote his widow a letter in Fren Dot come. XI.-IN MORUMI Quis bene moratam, morigeramque, neget? 5 10 XIL-APOLOGUS DE RUSTICO ET HERO m. Legit, et urbano lecta dedit domino : Malum ipsam in proprias transtulit areolas. Mota solo assueto, protinus aret iners. Damnavit celeres in sua damna manus; Parva licet, grato dona tulisse animo ! Nunc periere mihi et fætus, et ipse parens.” Christina, Arctoi lucida stella poli! Utque senex, armis impiger, ora tero: Exequor et populi fortia jussa manu. Nec sunt hi vultus regibus usque truces. cern for his loss, and respect for his memory. Such, however, was Christina's levity, or hypocrisy, or caprice, that it is possible she might have acted inconsistently in some parts of this business. -T. Warton. "From Milton's “ Defensio Secunda," and his “ Responsio " to Morus' Supplement. This distich was occasioned by a report, that Morus had debauched a favourite waitingmaid of the wife of Salmasius, Milton's antagonist.— T. WARTON. * This piece first appeared in the edition 1673.—Todd. • These lines are simple and sinewy. They present Cromwell in a new and pleasing light, and throw an air of amiable dignity on his rough and obstinate character. They are too great a compliment to Christina, who was contemptible both as a queen and a The uncrowned Cromwell had no reason to approach a princess with so much reverence, who had renounced her crown. The frolics of other whimsical modern queens have been often only romantic; the pranks of Christina had neither elegance nor even decency to deserve so candid an appellation. An ample and lively picture of ber court, politics, religion, intrigues, rambles, and masquerades, is to be gathered from Thurloe's “ State Papers."— T. WARTON. I have quoted the English version of Milton's epigram to Christina : it appeared as follows, in Toland's life of the poet, fol. 1698, p. 39: Bright martial maid, queen of the frozen zone! in. |